Irene of Athens

Irene of Athens (750-9 August 803) was the Empress of the Byzantine Empire from 797 to 802 with Leo IV of Byzantium.

Biography
Irene was born to the House of Sarantapechos of Athens, Greece, and on 17 December 768 she was married to the future Leo IV of Byzantium by his father Constantine V of Byzantium after a bride-show. In 771 she gave birth to the future Constantine VI of Byzantium, and she arranged for her son to marry Rotrude of West Francia, although in 787 she later broke the arrangement against her son's wishes. When her husband died in 780, she served as her son's regent; after an invasion by the Abbasid Caliphate in 782, she was forced to pay tribute to the Muslims, following the defection of several rebellious generals to the Abbasids. She died in 802.